Responsibility

[Kaile Vera]

With a smile, Kaile would lift her head and reach a hand over to Bobo. "He can't stay long from his nutrient tube," she explained, a small gesture given to the silver container in her satchel. "About an hour really." With a careful pluck, she took the tiny lizard in hand.

"Honestly, it would be best if he stayed here," Bobo was not amused, and that withering stare was set upon Kaile." Well this isn't a familiar ship, you'll get lost!" She cried out. The fact that she was comically arguing with a lizard did not struck Kaile as odd. Just another day.

If ysalamir were able to huff, Bobo did.

"You'll be fine," she promised, moving him to place him back upon his tube.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"You've had him a long time then?" Asmus asked as he gathered his portable speaker. He would open the door and start heading up to the galley with her when Bobo was secure again. He made a small discontented expression at having to break contact again.

"Does he normally roam free on your ship then?" he would ask at her other statement as they headed up. Placing the speaker down on a table he'd move for the cupboard to pull out some implements. "Let's have some bouncy music for the morning," he said as it started to play. He tapped out a rhythm with his hands on the surface as he put down a couple of pans.

Spoiler: breakfast playlist

https://youtu.be/pK7egZaT3hs
https://youtu.be/CdBt3n1MtFM
https://youtu.be/gGdGFtwCNBE

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Prior to leaving, Kaile brought Bobo’s nutrient tube out so that he would at least have something to look at other than the inside of her satchel. Placing it on a small shelf by the wall, she gave a slight press to the glass and gave him a wiggle of fingers.

“See you later, bud!”

Following Asmus, she took the small hairband from her wrist and began to finger comb her hair while she walked. At his question, her smile froze. It was an innocent question. It was obvious why he asked it; thing was that it immediately made her think of the Messa.

Of Kurt. Of how she didn’t have a ‘ship’ anymore nor a home.

It took a second to reply, forcing a smile as she averted her eyes. “He tends to wander over me, actually.” At the table, the first strings of the song came up:

[ Stop making the eyes at me, I'll stop making the eyes at you...]

“Reckon what should we make?” she would ask him, her fingers tapping out a rhythm to try and divert her thoughts.

[ And what it is that surprises me, is that I don't really want you to..]

“Biscuits? I can make gravy.” Being a short cook from time to time had its perks. Right. Cooking. Don’t think, just dance.

I bet you look good on the Dance floor…

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

With an exaggerated drum of his fingers on the table edge, Asmus span on one foot and turned to the cupboards dramatically. "You know, we don't call them biscuits on Eriadu. Scones and we don't have them for breakfast, however….” he said, searching through a cupboard. Everything was tightly packed in the galley. “There we go, and I'll get fry up some sausages, fresh tomatoes and scrambled eggs. Eggs are from frozen though I'm afraid.

He unlocked a heavy looking freezer and took out a top of scrambled eggs and chucked them in the reheater. As the song hit the chorus again he leant back over his shoulder with a toss of his hair and mimed along. Then he returned to laying out his land, shuffling and wiggling in time to the music. Good bouncy wake up music.

“Best shove a caf on for Kairon!” he called.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile swung Asmus a slight grin. He was really getting into it. Oh he did so with additional flair, playing the part of the fool. A jester with smooth hands but with a scoundrel smile. Each step that he took gave just a little bit more information to the Lorrdian.

Dancing and rhythm came to him easily. He was well used to it. Taking a pot to start the caf, Kaile couldn’t help but reward him with a giggle. He lipsinked along with the words, emerald eyes bright and mischievous. The melancholy that had stained her eyes earlier waned, and in its place Kaile tentatively began to sing along.

Flour, eggs, butter. While caf would sputter into a pot, the young woman would lean against the counter. Unlike Asmus, her voice would flow along with the song. Being a mimic meant that she could easily match up to the rhythm.

As the minutes passed, there came the tap of her foot, the soft sway of her body, the slight bob of her head. For anyone that would walk in on them, it would be quite the curious scene; both of them now getting more into the song as the artist sang.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Like drinking poison, like eating glass

Asmus made a face, looked at his food and then laughed. Honestly, he mostly liked the intro and the chorus on this one. It was not supposed to be a statement on his cooking.

As it happened Kairon did walk in on them. He took in the scene with a quick glance, shook his head and called: "Eugh. Tell me when the caf is ready." Turning on his heel, he headed back the way he came to put some distance between himself and the overly chipper twenty somethings.

Without evening looking up from his sizzling pan, Asmus held one palm up towards kaile and her mixing bowl for a high five, a mischievous smirk on his face.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

A scrunched up silly smile and a high five would echo along with a chuckle in the galley. That’s when the third song on the playlist began to play.

Kaile’s eyes widened with a start.

“Oh!” she gave a little bounce. “I love this song!” she exclaimed, becoming more animated than before. “Coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine~~” as she sang along. Making biscuits weren’t that much trouble. It was about making sure that the butter and the flour all mixed together well. This is where she used her hands, keeping it in a slight crumbly texture. The heat would melt the butter in the oven and that is what made flaky layers.

There was something about cooking with another person. It just made it more fun. More entertaining. Special. The scent of sausage and eggs would permeate the air with its mouth-watering deliciousness. Grabbing a pan mid sway, Kaile began to prep rolling the biscuits out and setting them on the sheet.

Humming and singing along, Kaile would tell Asmus, “These won’t take long at all to bake!”

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"I think everyone in the verse likes this song!" he exclaimed. If she was observant - and she likely was - she might notice home trying to surreptitiously watch her sing, a happy little smile on his face.

He took the whole pan with the sausages and poured some fat into a smaller pan and then placed it into the oven to finish heating through. Wiping his hands down on a towel, he slid his datapad out of his pocket and placed it next to her.

"Go on, you can pick the next songs," he said, before returning to fry off some fresh cherry tomatoes. If asked, he would have found it difficult to explain how it made him feel to see Kaile so much more content that when he'd met her.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile caught Asmus’s casual upward turn of his lips from the corner of her eye. She’d just set the biscuits in the oven, flashing him a mock insulted look.

“What? Have issues with my singing there?” she’d tease, taking the bowl over towards the sonic cleanser. Kaile was a generally neat person. One would call her an ‘organized piler’ when it came to her own clothing, but in the kitchen, she made sure she kept a clean house.

That was just from the years of being a waitress. Cleaning up after oneself was priority and second nature to the Lorrdian. “Mmm… let’s see.”

The last strains of Brightside bounced around the galley, while a quick scroll and tap would select Kaile’s selections. There was a distinct mischievous smirk.

Now who didn’t like to dance?

[ One. Two. Three. Four. Five!...]

Kaile couldn’t help herself, she gave a giggle and began snapping her fingers.

Spoiler: Kaile’s selection!

http://youtu.be/EK_LN3XEcnw

http://youtu.be/tuK6n2Lkza0

http://youtu.be/fy8KqhDFtkA

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"If you can take my singing, I've got no grounds for complaint. You should know, if it doesn't have strings in it Kairon will turn it off!" Asmus warned. He stepped around Kaile, lightly placing his hand on her waist to steer past her to retrieve a wooden spoon.

Tomatoes fried off, Asmus went to out cutlery out. Right foot forward, back, forward again and a spin and flourish to the music.

"A little bit of you makes me your man...Oh! Bum barder, dun dun dee dar dee dar der!" he said, managing not to feel too embarrassed at his own antics.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Her shoulders shuddered as Kaile gave a chuckle at Asmus' singing. He was a dancer alright. She could tell by the way he moved. He was so lively, it was fun. Infectious.

"Strings in it?" Kaile's face brightened at that. Following up to come up behind him, she took a small cup. Pouring a little bit of flour from the biscuts, some milk, she came over towards the range. "Like.. violins?" she would ask curiously, lifting her eyebrows up at that bit of knowledge. He had mentioned a merchant ball and all the finery.

That made sense now. With all their finery and such, that's likely where Asmus also learned how to dance. Probably that fancy way too that would make your skirt fly up all pretty when one twirled.

"Done with the sausage?" she'd follow up, reaching past him to set down the ingredients she'd need to make the gravy. A thought came to her then.

"Does that mean you like things with strings too?" she flashed him a grin, giving him a slight bump with her hip.




[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Hah!" Asmus replied, pretending the bump had knocked him off balance far more than it had. Mai slunk into the galley behind them, yawning widely before taking a seat. Asmus decided to reply to the last question seriously as he opened the oven. "I've got a pretty broad taste. I'll listen to classical if the mood takes me. Kairon just doesn't like any music from this millennia. Doesn't like wine not from this decade either. Funny thing really. Big bad pirate, but also likes a good book and a nice red after its had time to breathe."

He bent over to check the sausages. "Yep all done." he said, standing back up. The music changed and he kept bouncing his head to the beat, which flicked his hair around. "Good choice," he said, grinning. There was a sigh behind them as Mai shook her head at his shameless antics. "Ever listen to anything classical much?"

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


Kaile gave the feline a friendly smile and a wave of her fingers in hello. Mai was not impressed. Not one to take it personally, the Lorrdian simply kept her smile. Turning to Asmus, she answered his question, shaking her head from left to right in that same soft grin.

“Most of my time was spent in diners, fly-ins, and dives,” she admitted with a sheepish grin. Taking his used pan, she made the most of the drippings as she began to make the gravy.

“Ain’t really had the chance to, to be honest.” most of the time, that wasn’t what was accessible to her. He likely grew up with it, so that’s why that’s more familiar to him.

[ Big black boots. Long brown hair. She’s so sweet with her -- get back stare! ]

The song was terribly catchy, and in between their conversation, Kaile sang a few of the words. Taking a small whisk, she would sprinkle flower with one hand while blending it in the fat with the other. The delicious scent of baking biscuits would start to tantalize the nose, wafting from the oven with its mouth-watering butteriness.

“But I don’t mind music of any kind.” she told him, a whimsical smile on her face. “ Music is music. It lives and breathes in your soul.”

Spoiler: Kaile’s selection!

http://youtu.be/tuK6n2Lkza0

http://youtu.be/fy8KqhDFtkA

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus watched her closely for a moment as she spoke. "Yeah," he said quietly in response to her statement. It sounded like the kind of thing he would say, and yet he found himself without an appropriately poetic response. Again.

"Can we just turn that down a bit?" came a gruff call. Kairon sauntered in and headed straight for the caff.

"Sure," Asmus replied, turning it down a couple of notches. "You cook for a living then?" Asmus asked Kaile. His stomach made a low rumble as he took a deep breath in from the nose. Kairon lifted his chin as he peered over curiously to see what they were making.

As Asmus moved around and started plating up the sausages, eggs and fried tomato, Kaile might realise that he was noticeably less touchy under his uncles gaze. Kairon wouldn't understand. Yes, Asmus may have pestered the odd passenger they had during their journeys. But this was different. If it was the same, he wouldn't have stopped. His uncle would just assume the worst, however.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile shot Kairon a shy smile, turning her brown eyes over to Asmus. His curious distance perked an eyebrow, as he became a bit more muted in his manner. Blinking, she took a couple more seconds to answer.

Oh!

"Off and on when they needed an extra short cook at Yum Bunnies." the name was synonymous with tiny black short shorts, a white t-shirt, and black lepi ears. Also fantastic wings. Some of the spiciest known in the 'Verse. It was a food franchise owned and operated on every Arceneau Trade Station. Same layout. Same menu. Same bubbly girls who were waiting the tables. It was something familiar for the everyday spacer to come to port to.

"Got the whole menu right here," she said with a wink, tapping her temple with a bit of devilry. "Just making home-style gravy and biscuits." Kairon hadn't asked verbally, but the query in his body was there. Some milk would thicken it up.

"Oh!, need to get those out." she said, taking a mitt to pull out the mouth-watering biscuits. "They are piping hot so be careful!" she warned, giving everyone the eye that suggested no poking fingers just yet.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Do not ask if she has the uniform with her. Under no circumstances are you to ask if she has the uniform.

Asmus helped Kaile plate up and set it all down on the table. He'd noticed the curious glance and felt a pang of guilt for changing his mannerisms so quickly with his uncle in the room. How would see feel about that exactly? Probably not good. As she took her seat he stood behind her and placed and arm across her shoulders and gave one a gentle squeeze. Feth what Kairon thought. Cockpit duty next and they'd probably end up talking about just what had happened over the last day.

"Did you want something to drink? Oh! This is brilliant, even Kairon likes this one," he exclaimed as the track changed.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[ -- everl-oong. ]

Much like Kairon, Kaile's face would bloom with a glow. Her eyes sparkled, the corner of her eyes glinting. She was already well on her way singing, her melodic voice accompanying the gentle sway of her lithe figure. Quick motions would follow as she set the rest of the food down.

[ --and I wonder, when I sing along with you...]

When Kaile felt the squeeze of Asmus's hands upon her shoulders, she shot him a wide smile. "One of my favorites," she admitted with a sheepish grin over to Kairon. Everyone was all ready to dig in, and Kaile said, "Dig in!" with encouragement.

At that moment, she followed the line of the chorus, softly singing the lines. Moving to grab a biscuit, brown met green and Kaile shone Asmus with a smile mid singing, giving him a light wink.

"...Gotta promise not to stop when, she sang."


[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

His appreciation of the song played out on his expressive face, too busy eating to sing along. It also showed what he thought of the food as he turned to give Kaile a thumbs up and a slow nod.

Enraptured by her smile however, he was unable to resist joining the next verse. "Breathe out so I can breathe you in... hold you in!"

Mai rolled her eyes at the pair.

In that manner typical of Eriadu natives, he used his fork pointing down. Stabbing a piece of biscuit, he swirled it around to soak up some gravy and then used his knife to pile on some sausage and tomato.

"Thank you Kaile, this is very nice," Kairon said politely in a gap from the singing.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Her expression bloomed into one of joy at that, chuckling and shoulders shaking at that. Mai was busy shoveling food into her mouth, using a claw to stab at a sausage and drop it into her plate. The young woman hid a small smirk as she dipped her head, only raising it when Kairon complimented her. A flush of pleasure rose pink upon her cheeks.

"My pleasure, Captain." she said a bit shyly, glancing back down at her plate. It was nice, eating with others. Taking her fork, she began to eat. Every once in a while, she would glance up, fascinated by how the crew of the Quin would eat. Mai was a riot, no care whatsoever. Filling her belly until it was full. She had this primal way about her; but not one that dealt with her species as much as having to do with habits.

There was a slight narrowing to her eyes. It was as if underlying of it all, she had to make sure she had enough food. Could there be something in her past that suggested she had been denied it? Kairon had his mannerisms. Eriadu thorough and thorough. There were some mannerisms that never left one, regardless of what life tossed their way.

Asmus was the same in that as well. Delicate movements, no abrupt rush.

So much one can learn simply from watching.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

If there was a time when Asmus was even less observant it was when he was eating. Other than the occasional small smile in Kaile's direction, he barely took his attention from his meal or spoke. He left one of his biscuits till the end to help scoop up the last of the bits and gravy.

With a long swig of water he scooped up his plate and took them back over to the surface in the galley. Leaning his rump against the surface he paused the music after the song finished and swiped around, looking for a few more tracks for the bridge.

“Right,” Kairon announced as he finished his own plate. “Asmus you're keeping us steady through the Hurshell Cluster, I'll relieve you in…three hours then it's a cargo check.”

“Got it,” Asmus replied. “The fun and exciting lives of smugglers…coming?” he asked Kaile.
“Again, the more people you tell we smuggle, the less likely we'll get to keep doing it!” Kairon chuckled.